The time is drawing closer when members of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada must decide if they wish to live in mutual submission with the other member churches of the Anglican Communion, according to the Bishop of Southwest Florida, who encouraged diocesan clergy and congregations to support the Windsor Report process in a reflection piece published on the diocesan website earlier today.

“To live into the vision of Communion expressed by the Windsor Report requires that we adopt a spirit of humility – accepting limitations on provincial autonomy in order to live into new possibilities in mission and ministry,” the Rt. Rev. John B. Lipscomb wrote. Far from being a revolutionary departure from traditional Anglican patterns of organization, the Windsor Report is another step toward giving form to “Anglicanism as a distinct part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church,” he said.

Bishop Lipscomb acknowledged that after “prayerful consideration” at least some Episcopalians will “conclude that they must be faithful to the decisions of the General Convention 2003,” decisions, Bishop Lipscomb said, which have strained and in some cases broken the bonds of affection within the Communion.

“There will be others who will choose to accept the recommendations of the Windsor Report and remain in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other Anglican provinces,” Bishop Lipscomb said. “Those who choose to remain must fully embrace the radical claims of interdependence within a global community. Such individuals, congregations, and dioceses have a rightful and constitutional claim to be the Episcopal Church in the United States.”

Bishop Lipscomb concluded with a plea for charity and forbearance toward all with a reminder of the “mission” that all claim to share. “Whatever our individual decisions must be, let us bear witness to the transforming power of God that will one day renew and restore all people to unity with God and with one another in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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